Shocked

Today started pretty ordinarily. I began work in the morning and took a break a few minutes ago to have some lunch. We recently started getting the newspaper by subscription - I haven't subscribed to anything other than small local papers in years - and sometimes I read it while I eat lunch.

There I was, eating leftover Chinese food, when I turned the page and saw a picture of my former sister-in-law.

She disappeared 16 years ago and they just now charged a man with her murder.

I'm shocked. I hadn't really thought much about her since my divorce. I had only met her once, and briefly, and even then, I don't think she said much more than two words to me. I don't think she particularly liked me. But she was also fairly young when we met, so maybe it was just teenage standoffishness to a stranger, since that's what I was to her. Either way, I didn't really know her at all. She hadn't been living at home for several years before she disappeared, but I remember how hard her leaving had hit her mother.

Even though I barely knew her, reading about this case and being reminded of it, has affected me more than I would expect. I think the thing that makes this feel so shocking is how it will affect people who I care about - my stepdaughter in particular. I hope when this news unearths memories for her as well, it isn't painful, but might provide some relief knowing that there will be some closure with the pressing of charges against the man believed to be her aunt's killer.